Twenty-six Big West Conference athletes were selected on the final day of the 2017 Major League Baseball First-Year Draft, increasing the league’s draftee total to 38, tying for sixth-highest total in conference history.

Big West Conference Champion Long Beach State and UC Santa Barbara paced the conference with eight selections apiece. The Dirtbags had two selected on the second day with catcher David Banuelos going in the fifth round (153rd) to the Seattle Mariners and outfielder Brock Lundquist headed to the Toronto Blue Jays in the sixth round (189th). Six more Long Beach State players were nabbed on day three to up its total to eight.

The Gauchos had a busy day three as all eight of their players were drafted on the final day. Teammates Austin Bush and Alex Garcia both were picked in the 15th round to get things going for UCSB. Bush was the 440th selection for the Atlanta Braves, while Garcia went to the Philadelphia Phillies as the 443rd overall pick.

Cal State Fullerton witnessed seven players drafted and two of its first three players selected were pitchers as Connor Seabold was nabbed in the third round by the Phillies and John Gavin was the San Francisco Giants’ eighth round pick.

UC Irvine had four players selected, including Keston Hiura, who was the first Big West Conference player selected as he went ninth overall to the Milwaukee Brewers, the highest-ever pick in UC Irvine program history, eclipsing Anteater Jeff Malinoff as the No. 22 overall selection in 1974. It also ties him for the 11th-highest pick in Big West Conference history as Cal State Fullerton’s Mark Kotsay (1996) and Long Beach State’s Kyle Abbott (1989) both went as the ninth selection in their respective years.

Cal Poly and UC Riverside each had three players drafted, while UC Davis and Hawai’i showcased two players each in this year’s draft. CSUN earned one selection to guarantee every Big West school at least one player drafted.